How do you play a musical instrument when your hands just won’t stop twitching? What if you stuck a circuit board on a plastic recorder? What on earth would it sound like?
Enter a musical, magical dystopia inspired by composer-performer and CoDI Lead artist Liza Bec’s real life experience of music triggered epilepsy, as featured in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, BBC Radio 6music and New Scientist. Lead single ‘Revenge of the Dragoncat‘ received television coverage on London Live and a cover feature in the Portsmouth News before its January launch at Servant Jazz Quarters.
“As imaginative and alive as the name suggests – this is like the music from a kaleidoscopic tale you read as a child, listen to this and embark on a wonderful adventure.” MusicnGear
“A wonderfully engrossing story that packs a huge punch.“ Readers’ Favorite
EP and short story ‘INNERVATE’ is released on 10th February 2023.
From the driving beat of ‘Brain Song’ to the soaring vocals of ‘All Men Kill’, INNERVATE both embraces and unsettles you, drawing you into the surreal sounds made by a glitchy brain. Liza built their own instrument, the roborecorder, to create INNERVATE’s unique sound. Improvised in one take with no edits, Liza’s virtuosic performance redefines the plastic recorder as a formidable and accessible electronic instrument. Eye catching abstract visuals by Dan Tombs (Gold Panda/Jon Hopkins) and Catalina Velasquez Gonzalez draw you into a magical world where dragoncats rule.
Liza and their roborecorder are currently on display in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry’s 2022 exhibition ‘Turn It Up: The Power of Music‘. They have recently featured in the BBC Radio 6 museum and New Scientist. Liza’s classical music career was derailed after being diagnosed with a rare type of epilepsy. They designed the roborecorder to enhance and expand their musical skills, using their epilepsy as an inspiration rather than a limitation.
Hear more about Liza’s experience in this feature created especially for New Scientist, December 2022
INNERVATE will be released on Liza’s own label, BMV Records, on 10th February 2023. Work on INNERVATE was funded by Help Musicians UK Fusion Fund.
MORE ABOUT LIZA
Liza Bec 2022 by Ben Hughes
Liza Bec is a composer and studio producer who creates imaginative and innovative music and multimedia experiences. Always curious about how the world works, they love to use ideas from science and medicine when writing their stories and incorporate this love of innovation and invention into their creative practice.
Introduced to music at an early age, Liza plays recorder, clarinets and saxophones and made their concerto debut with the band of the Royal Marines while still a pre-teen. Liza studied Geology (University of Oxford), has a Masters in classical Clarinet Performance (Trinity College of Music, London) and was awarded a Distinction and the Hambleton Clarinet Prize. Within a short time of starting a professional career as a musician, Liza was diagnosed with a rare form of music-triggered epilepsy. After working extensively with Live Music Now! and Music in Hospitals, Liza was inspired to study medicine at King’s College London, where they gained a place on the highly competitive Graduate Entry programme, qualifying as a doctor in 2011. Alongside medical studies, Liza re-learnt how to play, focusing on improvisation in order to bypass the glitches in their brain. They collaborated with electronic artist James Holden on ‘The Animal Spirits’ (2017), co-writing ‘Spinning Dance‘ and performing on subsequent European tour dates. EP/short story ‘Beyond the Blonde‘ was released on limited edition vinyl in 2018.
Now operating from Anarres Studio, their own production house based on the nexus of innovative ideas and studio projection, Liza is currently producing Spiral Dial, a monthly serial fiction podcast with original music released on the last Friday of every month and narrated by David Ryder Prangley (Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant). Liza was selected for Sage Summer Studios 2022. Other recent work includes projects with the Paraorchestra and assisting on the soundtrack for global game sensation Genshin Impact with peerless composer, producer and performer Kuljit Bhamra (Red Fort Studios).